At present there is no effective treatment for chronic hepatitis C. So far, human interferons have been used to treat patients with chronic hepatitis C. The efficacy of this treatment is about 20%. Recently, Ribavirin has been used in combination with interferon to treat patients with chronic hepatitis C. The combined treatment efficacy is up to about 40%. However, the dosage of Ribavirin required is high and there is accompanying red blood cell toxicity.
The search for effective drug(s) for hepatitis C is under the scrutiny of investigators worldwide. Most if not all the enzymes of hepatitis C and related viruses of the Flaviviridae family have been used as targets in the search for an antiviral drugs against hepatitis C. A major problem with the study of hepatitis C is a lack of in vitro cell-based and animal model systems. To date, there is no good replicative cell system to assay for activity against hepatitis C virus. The only animal model for hepatitis C is the chimpanzee. However, chronic hepatitis C infection is difficult to establish in chimpanzees. This fact further complicates the use of chimpanzees as an animal model system.